I feel like often people speak on a controversial topic from a place of judgement, yet they have never been in the place where they have had to deal with the actual situation. I have been guilty of this myself.
It is human nature to have an opinion and to judge, as our brains sort of automatically try to make sense of complicated or fragmented facts in ways that fit nicely within our personal worldviews. The truth is that most things in life are not right or wrong, black or white. No, a majority of life is more complicated and thrives within varied shades of grey. People will always judge or try to label situations as good or bad. Until they themselves have been placed in that situation, I argue that they are not really be able to say what they would or would not do.
Sometimes I look around and think about how we live in an amazing country, and wow are we so super lucky to be alive today! Others, I can hardly make it through the nightly news without curling into a ball on the couch. I am sure most of you can relate.
I have always held some pretty strong beliefs and I know that not all of us are going to agree, whether we are on social media or while heatedly debating around a dinner table. I have been guilty of adding fuel to the fire on hot button topics, maybe posting a divisive meme that will never reach the collective minds and hearts of those friends on the opposite side of a topic. For some of it, I will apologize.
But for you, Alabama, I will not be silent.
When an amendment motion to exempt rape or incest victims fail on an 11-21 vote, I know that the war on women is just beginning. When physicians will be punished more harshly for providing medical care than the rapists who caused the unwanted pregnancies through non-consensual acts of sexual violence. When women cannot make a safe, informed decision about what to do with their own bodies. When women are forced to give birth yet impoverished, unwanted children in foster care receive piss poor care because we really don’t give a shit about quality of life after birth. Hell, that’s not our problem at that point, right?
When all of this occurs, I know. And we know.
We will not remain silent.
If we must throw on a freaking red cape and handmaid’s bonnet to march, then so be it. I almost cannot believe that this is the world we are living in. If you do not believe in abortion, then do not have an abortion. I support your right to your view and to speak out about it publicly, no matter how much we disagree. It would be easy to step outside of the hoopla and chalk what happened in Alabama up to politics that we can never hope to influence. That is precisely why we must not remain silent.
Hopefully enough of us will speak out so that a law such as this one never actually goes into effect. Maybe some will realize through the strength of our collective voices that pro-choice does not equal pro-abortion. Most of us are reasonable people. I think it is quite reasonable for those of us with a uterus to make this extremely difficult decision on our own with the assistance of our healthcare provider, and not the government or our nosy neighbor’s input. Keep your hands off my uterus, Ms. Ivey. If banning guns won’t stop violence, then banning abortions surely won’t stop them from occurring. It will certainly make them less safe. The solution to reducing abortion lies in preventative, quality sex education. The choice should lie with women, and more specifically – an individual woman alone facing the most difficult of decisions and consequences.
“Just because I am pro-choice does not mean I am pro-abortion. It means I understand your choice is none of my damn business, and I will always fight for your right to choose.” – unknown.
“Keep abortion safe, legal…and rare.” – Bill Clinton
“Making abortion illegal doesn’t stop abortions. It stops safe abortions.” – unknown
“Abortion is a personal decision, not a legal debate.” – unknown
“The decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a woman’s life, to her well-being and dignity. When the government controls that decision for her, she is being treated as less than a full adult human responsible for her own choices.” – Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Coherent With Coffee 